Senior management team
Meet the senior management team at Wesleyan
Mario Mazzocchi
Group Chief Executive
Mario became Wesleyan Group CEO on 1 August 2019, having served as Chief Operating Officer since he joined Wesleyan in December 2018. He moved from Lloyds Banking Group where his most recent role was Chief Operating Officer for their Insurance and Wealth Division.
Previous roles in the Group included Managing Director of the Financial Planning and Retirement business line at Scottish Widows, Chief Operating Officer for the Commercial Banking Division, Operations Director of Asset Finance and Head of Brand for the Group.
Before working at Lloyds, Mario gained extensive experience in different industries, markets and sectors, including marketing, sales and strategy.
Nathan Beckett
Chief Financial Officer
Nathan Beckett was promoted to the role of Chief Financial Officer in April 2024 from the position of Managing Director of Dental, General Insurance and Direct.
Nathan joined Wesleyan in 2008 as part of the corporate audit team. He has since held a number of senior roles across the Group, including Finance Director and then Managing Director at Practice Plan Group.
Nathan is a qualified chartered accountant and, prior to joining Wesleyan, held roles in audit practice and financial training.
In addition to finance, Nathan is responsible for the company secretarial and legal teams.
David Stewart
Chief Operating Officer
David became Wesleyan’s Chief Operating Officer in August 2019. Before this, he held the role of Technology and Transformation Director.
He moved from Lloyds Banking Group, where he held a range of roles across the group over a 10-year career, rising to Chief Operating Officer for the Group Operations Division. Prior to Lloyds, he worked in a variety of commercial and general management roles.
As COO, David has Group-wide responsibility for Change and Transformation, Technology, Cyber, Data and Analytics, Customer Operations, Workplace Strategy and Services, Procurement and Supplier Management, and Operational Resilience.
Karen Blatchford
Managing Director of Direct, Dental and Intermediary Distribution
Karen Blatchford joined Wesleyan as Managing Director of Dental, Direct and Intermediary Distribution in February 2024. She previously spent eight years at Quilter where she was promoted to the role of Distribution Director from Head of International Product and Marketing.
Karen has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services sector, including 17 years at Legal & General, and has held senior roles in distribution, products and proposition development, sales and marketing.
She will oversee the work of Practice Plan Group and Wesleyan’s direct and intermediary channels.
Katie Wadey
Chief Product and Commercial Officer
Katie joined Wesleyan in 2024 and has over 20 years of multi-industry experience across a range of Customer and Commercial functions.
Katie has held senior roles at predominantly blue-chip regulated organisations, including BT, LV=, Tesco, British Gas and Aviva. Most recently, Katie was Chief Product and Commercial Officer at Simplyhealth, where she was responsible for the Denplan and Cashplan businesses.
Katie has been a trustee of Transform Housing and Support since 2019 and a NED of Capital and Regional Plc since 2020, where she is also Chair of the ESG Committee.
At Wesleyan, she will lead our corporate strategy and new business development, as well as our product, proposition, digital, marketing and communications activities.
Linda Wallace
Managing Director of Wesleyan Financial Services Ltd (WFS)
Linda joined WFS in April 2017 as Head of Proposition and Field Support, and became Head of Medical before being appointed as Director of WFS in January 2021. Subsequently she was promoted to Managing Director of WFS in January 2024.
In addition to leading the WFS business, she has oversight of Wesleyan’s General Insurance Business.
Prior to joining Wesleyan Group, Linda has over 25 years’ experience within the Financial Services and Healthcare sectors, and has held a number of Distribution leadership roles within several major Financial Service businesses including Aviva, AXA, Bupa and NFU Mutual.
Faraz Tasnim
Chief Transformation Officer
Faraz became Chief Transformation Officer on 1 April 2024, having served as Group Transformation Director since 2022.
Faraz has over 20 years’ experience spanning transformation, commercial, finance and consulting roles. Most recently he spent six years working at Quilter. Prior to that, he spent time at Direct Line Group, Hastings Direct, Lloyds Banking Group and Rolls Royce.
Reporting into David Stewart, COO, Faraz has accountability for delivery of the Society-wide transformation programme which includes overall responsibility for portfolio management across the Group and key strategic transformation programmes.
Jon Welsh
Chief Risk Officer
Jonathan joined Wesleyan in 2015. Since then, he has held several leadership roles, including Head of Actuarial and With Profits Actuary. He was appointed as Chief Risk Officer in 2021 and is now responsible for Wesleyan’s risk and regulatory activity.
Jonathan is a qualified actuary with a wide breadth of Risk Function and operational experience. Before joining Wesleyan, Jonathan previously held senior Actuarial positions with NFU Mutual and KPMG.
Jonathan is an active participant in industry bodies and working parties, which has influenced regulatory change within the industry.
Lisa Perkins
Director of HR
Lisa joined Wesleyan in 2017 as a Senior Business Partner, managing the HR Business Partnering team. She then became Head of HR in 2020, and Director of HR in 2021.
Lisa is responsible for the People Strategy at Wesleyan, leading a team of around 40 HR professionals to deliver a range of HR Services. This includes Performance Management, Organisational Design and Transformation, Reward and Recognition, Employee Value Proposition, Attraction and Retention, Learning and Development and HR Shared Services.
Lisa has worked in HR for the last 25 years within the professional services sector. She has also held the role of independent consultant and spent most of her early career at Lloyds TSB Bank in a variety of HR Business Partner and HR Manager positions.